The best Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit alternatives in September 2026 are Cituna, for seven engines including Claude and Grok with Search Console at $39 a month, and Promptwatch, for MCP and API access with 50 prompts at $95. LLM Pulse gives you 50 prompts with MCP for €49, and AIclicks 30 prompts across a choice of 11 engines for $59. SE Visible is the pick if prompt volume matters most: 200 prompts for the same $99 Semrush charges for 25.
If you want to see which of your buyer questions the engines answer without you, Cituna runs them across all seven engines on a 3-day trial.
Every price and limit below was read from the vendor's own pages on 25 September 2026: Semrush's AI Visibility pricing, SEO + AI Search pricing, knowledge base and MCP page, and each alternative's page linked under its entry.
What the Semrush toolkit costs, and what it counts
Semrush sells AI visibility two ways, and the price depends on which door you walk through.
The standalone AI Visibility plan. Base costs $99 a month per domain, billed annually. It tracks 25 custom prompts with daily AI rankings, for one domain's brand performance, with mentions from ChatGPT, Google AI, Gemini and Perplexity. It also includes AI visibility reports for any domain, 300 reports a day, competitor and prompt research, and an AI-readiness site audit.
The add-ons. Google Search Console and Google Analytics come through the Base Report add-on at $10 a month. Each extra user starts at $45 a month. Semrush's MCP page says MCP access is included in Semrush One and SEO Classic plans and for API users; the Base AI plan does not list it.
The combined SEO + AI Search plans. Here the AI quota rises with the SEO plan. The $139 SEO plan tracks performance in AI search but, per Semrush's knowledge base, has no dedicated prompt-tracking quota. Starter at $199 a month adds 50 daily prompts and MCP access; Pro+ at $299 gives 100 prompts; Advanced at $549 gives 200 prompts and API data integration. Annual billing takes those to $165.17, $248.17 and $455.67 a month.
So on the standalone plan you pay $3.96 a month for each tracked prompt, run on four engines, for one domain. That per-prompt figure is the number to hold every alternative against. For the head-to-head with Ahrefs, see Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit vs Ahrefs Brand Radar.
Why teams move off it
- A second brand doubles the bill. The price is per domain, so an agency or a company with two products pays again for each.
- No Claude or Grok. Semrush's engine list is ChatGPT, Google AI, Gemini and Perplexity.
- Search Console is an extra line item. It arrives through the $10 Base Report add-on rather than inside the toolkit.
- The API sits at the top. On the combined plans, API data integration is listed only on Advanced at $549 a month.
- Annual commitment. The $99 Base figure is the annual-billing price.
The criteria and how the list was built
Six questions, each answered from the vendor's own pricing pages:
- Is the entry plan cheaper than Semrush's $99 Base?
- Does it track more than Semrush's 25 prompts?
- Can Claude and Grok both be tracked on the entry plan?
- Is Search Console connected on the entry plan?
- Does the entry plan cover more than one domain or project?
- Is an API or MCP server included on the entry plan?
The bar: a tool qualifies only if its own pricing page publishes an entry price and it tracks at least four answer engines. The order: most criteria met first, ties broken by the lower entry price. A criterion counts only where the vendor's page says so; "not stated" scores nothing.
Rankability, one of the sites the engines cite most for these questions, is not on the list: its pricing address redirected to a demo booking page on 25 September 2026, so there was no published price to score.
Two entries also earned a look from what the engines read. Measured with Cituna across seven engines, over 41 scans of 22 tracked buyer questions in the 30 days to 25 September 2026, Perplexity's most-cited hosts for these questions were semrush.com (419 citations), rankability.com (404), llmpulse.ai (380) and aiclicks.io (378).
Semrush against seven alternatives
| Tool | Entry plan | Prompts | Domains or projects | Engines at entry | Claude and Grok | Search Console | API or MCP | Checks | Criteria met |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Semrush AI Visibility | Base, $99/mo per domain, billed annually | 25 | 1 | 4 | Neither | $10/mo add-on | Not listed on Base | Daily | Baseline |
| Cituna | Starter, $39/mo | 10 | 1 | 7 | Both | Every plan | API and MCP (read) | Daily | 4 of 6 |
| Promptwatch | Essential, $95/mo | 50 | 1 | Pick 4 of 8 | Both in the list | Listed integration, plan not stated | MCP and API | Daily | 4 of 6 |
| LLM Pulse | Starter, €49/mo | 50 | 1 | 5 | Paid add-ons | Not stated | MCP; no API | Weekly (daily at €79) | 3 of 6 |
| AIclicks | Starter, $59/mo | 30 | 1 on the plan card, 3 in the comparison table | Pick 3 of 11 | Both selectable | Not stated | From Pro, $189/mo | Daily | 3 of 6 |
| SE Visible | Basic, $99/mo | 200 | 3 | 5 | Claude "will be added soon", no Grok | Not stated | API exists, plan not stated | Daily | 2 of 6 |
| Ahrefs Brand Radar | In Ahrefs Lite, $129/mo | 5 | 5 projects | 7 on custom prompts | Claude only | No; GSC Insights is a separate Ahrefs tool | API and MCP | Daily | 2 of 6 |
| Otterly.AI | Lite, $29/mo | 15 | 1 workspace | 4 | Claude as add-on, no Grok | Not stated | From Standard, $189/mo | Daily | 1 of 6 |
"Not stated" means the vendor's pages do not say so; the tool may still offer it. Semrush's $99 is its annual-billing price; every alternative is shown at its monthly price.
The alternatives, ranked
1. Cituna: every engine Semrush skips, with Search Console, at $39
Cituna's Starter plan tracks ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Claude, Grok, Google AI Overviews and Google AI Mode daily for $39 a month, and Search Console is on every plan rather than an add-on. Read access to its API and MCP server is included from Starter; write actions such as starting a scan need Pro at $119. It meets criteria 1, 3, 4 and 6, and ties Promptwatch on four, ahead on price.
Best for: one brand that needs Claude and Grok watched daily next to its own Search Console clicks, for less than half of Semrush's Base.
Where it falls short: 10 buyer prompts on Starter against Semrush's 25, one brand per plan until Pro (three brands, 30 prompts), no Microsoft Copilot, and the 3-day trial needs a card. Per prompt it is barely cheaper than Semrush: $3.90 a month against $3.96, though each prompt runs on seven engines instead of four.
Source: Cituna pricing, developers and MCP pages. See Cituna's plans and start the trial.
2. Promptwatch: API and MCP on the first plan
Promptwatch's Essential plan costs $95 a month for 50 prompts, four tracked models picked from a list of eight that includes Claude and Grok, one project and 6,000 responses, checked daily. MCP and API access are both included, where Semrush keeps its API for the $549 tier. The trial runs seven days.
Best for: teams that want AI visibility data flowing into their own dashboards or agents from day one.
Where it falls short: only four models run at a time, Search Console appears as an integration without a plan attached, and agent analytics starts on Professional at $245.
Source: Promptwatch pricing.
3. LLM Pulse: twice the prompts at half the price, with MCP
LLM Pulse's Starter costs €49 a month with weekly tracking or €79 with daily tracking, for 50 prompts on one project. Five engines are included: ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Mode, AI Overviews and Gemini. An MCP server comes with every plan, and weekly plans start with a 14-day trial that asks for a payment method.
Best for: teams that want more prompts than Semrush gives and can live with weekly data.
Where it falls short: Claude, Grok and Copilot are add-ons from €8 a month each, the API is not on Starter, daily checks cost €79, and prices are set in euros.
Source: LLM Pulse pricing.
4. AIclicks: 30 prompts and your pick of 11 engines for $59
AIclicks' Starter plan costs $59 a month for 30 prompts, one website on the plan card (three in its comparison table) and three engines chosen from a list of 11 that includes Claude and Grok. Checks are daily, and the 3-day trial needs no card. Pro at $189 lifts that to 150 prompts, four engines, unlimited websites, and adds GA4, API and MCP.
Best for: a team that wants more prompts than Semrush's 25 and a free hand in choosing which engines to watch, for less than $99.
Where it falls short: three engines at a time on Starter, so choosing Claude and Grok means dropping two of the defaults; Search Console is not on the pricing page; and there is no API or MCP below $189.
Source: AIclicks pricing.
5. SE Visible: eight times the prompts for the same $99
SE Visible, the AI visibility product from SE Ranking, costs $99 a month on Basic for 200 prompts, about 30,000 analysed AI answers a month and three projects. It tracks ChatGPT, Gemini, Google AI Mode, Perplexity and AI Overviews, refreshed daily, with a 10-day trial.
Best for: Semrush users whose main complaint is the 25-prompt ceiling, not the engine list.
Where it falls short: no cheaper than Semrush's Base; SE Visible's FAQ says Claude "will be added soon" and lists no Grok; and neither Search Console nor the plan that includes the API is stated on the page read.
Source: SE Visible.
6. Ahrefs Brand Radar: AI prompts inside a full SEO suite
Every paid Ahrefs plan includes a daily Brand Radar prompt quota. Lite, at $129 a month, gives five tracked AI prompts (150 checks a month), five projects, and API and MCP access, alongside Ahrefs' keyword and site tools. Custom prompts run on AI Overviews, AI Mode, ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Copilot and Claude. Teams that want prompts without the suite can buy a package from $50 a month for 2,500 checks, which Ahrefs sizes as 80 prompts daily on one platform.
Best for: SEO teams who would drop Semrush altogether and want AI prompts, keywords and an API under one bill.
Where it falls short: five prompts on Lite is a fifth of Semrush's Base, Claude uses eight checks per update, Grok is not covered, and Search Console sits in GSC Insights, a separate Ahrefs tool rather than part of Brand Radar. The Ahrefs Brand Radar alternatives note goes deeper.
Source: Ahrefs pricing and Brand Radar.
7. Otterly.AI: the lowest entry price
Otterly.AI's Lite plan costs $29 a month for 15 prompts on ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Perplexity and Microsoft Copilot, checked daily with unlimited team members. Claude, Google AI Mode and Gemini are extra add-ons.
Best for: a solo marketer who needs a low monthly line and Copilot coverage, which Semrush does not list.
Where it falls short: fewer prompts than Semrush (15 against 25), no Grok, one workspace, and API and MCP access start on Standard at $189. Extra prompts cannot be bought on Lite.
Source: Otterly.AI pricing.
Which to choose
- Claude, Grok and Search Console, daily, for the lowest price: Cituna.
- An API from the first plan: Promptwatch.
- More prompts for less, if weekly is enough: LLM Pulse.
- Choosing your own engines from a list of 11: AIclicks.
- The most prompts for Semrush's own price: SE Visible.
- Replacing Semrush's whole SEO suite, not just the toolkit: Ahrefs.
- The smallest bill, with Copilot: Otterly.AI.
- Stay with Semrush if you already pay for Semrush One Starter or above: 50 prompts and MCP come with it, and the SEO data sits in the same login.
For more tools under $50, see the cheapest AI visibility tools, and every entry plan is on the tools page.
To check your own brand across all seven engines before you commit to any of these, start with Cituna's trial.